The Thunderfist
Vraul Jawrip is an orc warrior currently serving under the rule of Warchief Garrosh Hellscream of the Horde. He was formerly in service to the Thunderfist Warband until it was discovered that he had been a spy, directed under the orders of Garrosh himself, to ensure that the warband was kept in check. Vraul himself, however, has endured much pain throughout his involvement in the Horde's conquest within Azeroth and beyond. Originally hailing from Nagrand, he has suffered through many tragedies that have befallen the orcish race in recent times. While his father, Soran Jawrip, was a shaman of the Frostwolf clan and lived a long life until the Horde took off for Kalimdor, Vraul's mother had caught a terrible sickness, most likely the infamous red pox that had struck the population around the time, and died long ago when Vraul was a mere seven years old. Such losses gave Vraul a rigid perspective of the world for much of his life. Characteristics Though he is technically apart of the Frostwolf clan, Vraul is a warrior-born, and as such holds no powers over the elements. However, he continues to wear his father's lupine mask in his memory. He stands slightly taller than most orcs, and has a bulky, muscular build, a necessity for a warrior of his type. He also has various tattoos etched onto his arms, including an image on his left shoulder of a wolf sitting atop a rock and howling at the moon, wherein two wolves can be seen on each side of, which he acquired as a tribute to both of his parents while he was still in Lordaeron. Vraul's attitude resembles that of most veterans of old: relatively sullen and regretful, but still prideful of his heritage. His fierce loyalty for the warchief's rule is unquestionable, as proven when Garrosh was given the title. Regardless of the fact that Hellscream's political beliefs were much more militant than his own, Vraul remains sided with Garrosh due to his necessary service to the greater Horde and the mighty orcish race. Early Childhood Prior to his birth, Vraul had taken quite a toll on his mother, who was constantly dehydrated and required constant attention through the second half of her pregnancy. While his mother barely survived the event, Vraul was nonetheless born a healthy child within a Nagrand village near the tremendous Oshu'gun mountain to Soran and Grime Jawrip. He was a rather large infant compared to the usual orc, but what certainly caught his parents' attention was the clarity of Vraul's eyes. Like milky eggs they were, complimented by large, dark pupils, which stared at his parents endlessly, curious of the figures that had brought him into the world. Vraul's development was rather slow at first, as he was unable to walk on his own for a few years, and found difficulty picking up the orcish language. Such progress worried his parents, as the harsh traditions of orcish culture did not take kindly to those in the group that were branded as "weaklings". In an attempt to resolve their son's disabilities, the pair became harsh on young Vraul, fiercely and constantly teaching him the ways of their people. Once he had grown to be just five years of age, Grima had begun taking Vraul on daily trips to Garadar to gather food and water for their home. As they passed by, the citizens could not help but to notice Vraul's glossy eyes darting around, piercing through each new and exciting visual that Vraul could pick up. Many orcs soon crowded around him, trying to communicate with him and compliment his eyes, to the alert of Grima. Racing in to protect his son and hide his disability, Grima snatched him away and fled from the town, promising to keep him away until he was of age to defend himself. However, that night, Soran argued heavily with Grima for such a decision, proclaiming that his son would not be discriminated against. The next day, Soran went off to his usual duties for his clan, leaving Grima and Vraul in their hut. However, Vraul awoke to the sound of terrible and obnoxious coughing. He looked up and saw his mother, looking pale and sweaty, coughing around the house, trying to drink it away with all of the water they had. Unfortunately, there was very little left, and so Grima decided to take Vraul out and into Garader, hoping to get rid of her annoying cough. On the way there, Grima's pace became slower and her posture became more and more droopy. When they were almost halfway there, Grima collapsed onto her face and died, letting go of Vraul's hand in the process. Vraul, in a state of confusion and worry, began shaking his other, blurting out, "Mama?", to no response. He pushed his mother over and fixated his gaze upon her eyes; such a beautiful sight they made, giving off a bright and warm greeting, even in their now-motionless state. Such a sight became burned into Vraul's memory forever, as he stared at Grima for many hours until finally a passerby came and stopped over, calling out the shaman and others for help. Vraul's father was never the same after Grima's funeral, as the regrets that poured out into his mind had left him with a broken heart and a relative loss of ambition. Vraul, still too young to understand and process the occurrence, had been told that his mother had gone to sleep for meditation and was helping the spirits find peace with the world. Growing Up to Trouble Within Growing up within the Frostwolf clan, Vraul was encouraged by his people to become a shaman, much like his own father, and join tremendous battles in the name of the clan. As Vraul became of age to begin the initiation, he was sent out on a trek to the sacred "mountain", Oshu'gun, in a mission to seek out the ancestors. If Vraul had been able to see the ancestors appear before him, he would be able to communicate with them and hear firsthand their wise guidance. However, Vraul arrived and saw nothing of the sort, and returned with the grim news. His father, along with the rest of the clan that knew him, had been heavily disappointed for some time. However, one of the elder shamans advised Vraul not to seek sorrow in such trying times, but instead find his own path in history. Given his superior physical strength, Vraul was convinced to take up the responsibilities of being an axe-wielding defender of his people. The trainers noticed that he had an adept ability to swing his blades in an efficient manner, and so placed him in many duels with other promising trainees. While Vraul had not garnered a perfect record in these fights, his skills impressed many of the higher-ups within the Frostwolf clan, who were convinced that Vraul's specialty and way of life was the path of the warrior. However, not long after having such an epiphany, Vraul had noticed a sharp change within the ideas of his people. The Frostwolf clan was becoming much more secretive and divided, as Drek'thar and many other powerful shaman were convinced to practice warlockery - not knowing of the terrible force behind such power. Soon, the first Horde had been formed with the combined might of numerous orc clans, the Frostwolf included. Under orders by the puppet Warchief, Blackhand, Vraul had joined an orc offensive that included great warriors such as Durotan himself in an attack against the draenei holding of Telmor. Vraul, having the choice to either obey his clan and live or dissent and suffer a brutal demise, reluctantly chose to slay a fair amount of draenei in his path. Soon after, Shattrath City had been sacked, and many orcs were commanded to drink the Blood of Mannoroth and partake in a gift by the terrible warlock, Gul'dan. Following Durotan's wise ways, Vraul joined him and much of the Frostwolf clan in escaping through the Dark Portal from Draenor to a strange new land known as Azeroth. A New World After exiting the portal to find themselves in a vast swamp, the Frostwolf clan traveled far north to a valley within the Alterac Mountains. Noticing a positive change in the methods that the shamans practiced, Vraul once again felt a great pride in a his people, even though the clan would soon suffer tremendous trials and tribulations in the coming years. For much time, the Frostwolves were hounded by humans, or pinkskins as the orcs called them, who hunted many of them down in the forests and either slaughtered or enslaved them within internment camps. After many years of being able to successfully escape this terrible enemy, Vraul began to notice that his father's health had begun to decline sharply. A former warlock returned to shamanism, Soran Jawrip's body had taken a massive toll from such drastic changes in his use of spellpower. With his physical body aged to exhaustion, Soran's spirit quickly began to wane, and he was violently killed within the forests of northern Hillsbrad while fleeing from a raid of Lordaeronian humans. Vraul, who was running alongside his father, had shortly before been convinced by him to stop trying to help Soran escape. Vraul refused to do so until one of the human attackers managed to grab hold of Soran's lagging arm, and pulled him back into the group and quicjky slaughtered him with their weapons. The distraction granted Vraul barely enough time to turn himself around and head for the hills. Finding many others of his clan alive but wounded by arrows, Vraul vowed to one day make the humans pay by any means necessary. He took up one of his father's wolf-masks and vowed to wear it each day for the rest of his life, even if he suffers insults from others due to the fact that he is wearing it but is not a shaman. Also, in another honor of both his father and mother, Vraul decided to get a large tattoo on his left shoulder which he he looks at each day he wakes up in order to remind himself of the day when his father was brutally taken from him. For Honor and Glory For many years, the orcs had been entrapped within internment camps, seperated from the rest of their brethren who, while free, were facing life nearly if not rougher than that withn the camps themselves. That is, until a remarkable young shaman soon came upon his people and became the first shaman of a new generation that the elemental spirits accepted. Soon, this newcomer - branded by the humans with the name "Thrall" - proved to the clan his capabilities when he was able to best Orgrim Doomhammer in single combat. Vraul, hearing of the plan that Doomhammer and Thrall had concocted against the humans, was eager to join in on their idea. It was not until Durnholde Keep that Vraul was allowed to fully join in on the attack, but the wait left him extremely hungry for battle against the humans. It was there, within Durnholde, that Vraul would meet an orc prisoner, Aknug Stormrider, with whom Vraul would unknowingly have later contact with, and personally free his bonds so that Aknug was able to join in on the fight against the human wardens. Successful in their attack, the imprisoned orcs had been freed and the keep was shaken down to rubble by the might of Thrall's shamanistic powers. Trouble Along The Way With many of the remaining orcs freed and the orcs becoming a sizable force within Azeroth, Vraul joined the clans as they assembled to establish a new base for all of the united orcs to remain within in relative safety. However, the orcs were not to stay, as the orc liberator himself, Thrall, had been given a vision by a mysterious prophet to sail the oceans westward towards Kalimdor in order to escape the humans and find their own destinies. Vraul was apart of the force that assaulted a human base that not only held a plethora of ships, but that had also encaged the great warrior, Grom Hellscream. After freeing him from his bonds, the orcs swiftly boarded the human ships and fled the Eastern Kingdoms for good. As the ship he was on drifted away from the human-infested continent, Vraul stood by and stared at the fading lands, promising to one day return and bring hell to the dastardly humans who had caused him so much grief. While sailing the oceans, the ship Vraul and many other orcs had been on soon took off on another course, they were pulled into a storm near the Maelstrom. The ship was forced to take shelter upon an island, which happened to be inhabited by not only a mysterious race known as trolls, but also more angry humans seeking to kill the orcs. During a battle with each other, the humans and orcs were ambushed by a raid of intelligent murlocs, who sought out sacrifices for their terrible rituals. Imprisoned within a fiery dungeon inside the volcano, Vraul continued to rattle the cages until he was knocked over the head and demoralized by the wardens of his cell. It was not until Thrall arrived and freed him did Vraul regain hope that he and his people would be able to escape such a horrible fate as a sacrifice. After a mighty battle against murloc armies, Vraul and the others were finally able to repair their ships and continue their voyage towards Kalimdor. New Homeland, Old Troubles Finding himself seperated from Thrall and the rest of the others ships upon arrival to the coast of Kalimdor, Vraul and a few surviving orcs desperately fought off attacking wildlife until Thrall managed to find and regroup them into the fold. Eventually, Vraul and the others had managed to find Grom Hellscream in battle against humans under the command of a certain powerful mage known as Jaina Proudmoore. In awe of his strength and fierce hatred against the pinkskins, Vraul decided to join him in his battles against them. Such willingness to draw the ire of the human attackers worried Thrall, as he left Grom and his Warsong clan to roam the lands of Ashenvale, and convinced Vraul to join them. For a short while, Vraul felt out of place alongside the Warsong clan, as he was still a brown-skinned orc among orcs whom were granted a green pigment due to the time that they had previously accepted the terrible blood of the pit lord, Mannoroth. However, his fighting prowess impressed the clan, and Grom chuckled off Vraul's self-conscious thoughts and accepted him as an ally of the Warsongs. In their mission to gather lumber from the forests of Ashenvale, the orcs were sieged by angry, xenophobic creatures known as night elves, who saw the Warsongs and Vraul as terrible invaders and began a terrible conflict with them. Corruption While fighting against the skilled, elven archers, the demigod Cenarius showed up and greatly turned the tide against the orcs. Given his imperviousness to conventional attacks, the Warsongs felt that they required a new weapon to face such a foe - otherwise, death was certain for the orcs. One of the troll witch doctors sensed strange energies nearby, and brought Grom and the others towards a fountain of blood. As the tensions grew, Grom felt he had no choice but to drink the corrupted blood in order to save his people from extermination. Grom gave Vraul one opportunity to become a true ally with the Warsong Clan - drink the blood along with the others and join the others in their attacks against Cenarius. If Vraul refused to do so, Grom emphasized that he would be exiled and left to die within the forests, alone against the elven forces. Convinced enough to follow through, Vraul engorged himself with Mannoroth's blood, and soon began feeling his body go through many terrible changes. His muscle size grew tremendously, his ferocity became unmatched by the mag'hari orcs he had left behind in Draenor, but most importantly - his skin had become green much like the rest of the clan's soldiers, that is until it turned to a dark red color - a sign that Vraul had begun the transformation into a fel orc. With this newfound strength, Vraul joined Grom's clan in wiping out the elven forces wherever they tread. Though aimed and fired at by dozens of archers, Vraul had personally cut through numerous night elves with his dual axes. As apart of the corrupted Warsong clan, Vraul had grown to have a fiery hatred towards Thrall, and an especially strong craving for the blood of Jaina Proudmoore, as she was the leader of a race that he so very much despised for many years. However, before Vraul could be meet up with the powerful forces with Thrall, Grom had advised Vraul, as well as many other Warsong orcs, to remain behind and continue to slay elven infidels. Enraged but without a choice, Vraul reluctantly accepted his duty and remained within the southern parts of Ashenvale, where he and the Warsongs continued to cut through tremendous trees within its forests. Redemption While walking along the battle-worn hills of the Warsong hold, Vraul began to notice another strange change within his body, as the terrible anger he held for Thrall had mysteriously vanished, and his skin had reverted to the green tinge he had held for a short while before. The remainder of the Warsong clan within Ashenvale had also returned to their pre-demonic states, but they were hopelessly confused as to the reasoning until they were told of their chieftain, Grom Hellscream's mighty sacrifice. Renewed in his ways, Vraul offered his services towards the future of his people, and left Ashenvale to join Thrall's mighty forces. These orcs would all go on to locate themselves within the deserts that were named Durotar, and establish the great city of Orgrimmar. Settled In Settling within Durotar was harsh, and many orcs fell prey to the wastelands that they now resided within. It was not until Orgrimmar had been finished under Thrall's reign did Vraul begin to realize that his physical body had started to slow down. The difficult landscape brought about some exhaustion in Vraul that he had never regularly witnessed before. However, given that he had experienced numerous battles in his time and had served alongside the ferocious Warsong clan, Vraul was entrusted within the Valley of Trials to teach new recruits the ways of the warrior and send them off to greater challenges. While performing his usual duties, Vraul had soon discovered small demons lurking within a cave to the north. Alongside a few new, battle-ready recruits, Vraul had entered the cave to slay the foul beasts. While successfully slaughtering numerous lesser imps within, a Burning Blade warlock known as Yarrog Baneshadow watched down from a cliff he had been holding a ritual on and cast a terrible shadow bolt towards Vraul and knocked him down into the waters, nearly unconscious. While the adventurers were able to quickly handle the situation, such a loss brought Vraul to depression as he contemplated his worth to the Horde. While still able to properly train the basic abilities that new recruits required in order to move on from the Valley, Vraul still maintained a sluggish demeanor and felt quite unworthy of life for a few years. In fact, when the the Dark Portal had opened and countless orcs had been drafted, Vraul was ordered to remain within the Valley - the others had oft-given him below average reports for his work. The same occurence happened when the Lich King revealed himself to the world, and again the Horde sent out fighters toward the new threat, yet refused to allow Vraul to join in on the battles. These rejections only furthered Vraul's contempt for his own being, and nearly brought him to self-mutilation. However, sometime after the Lich King had been defeated, Vraul sat up high on a cliff above the Valley's den and felt a tremendous earthquake shake the foundations of Durotar. The edge of rock that Vraul had been sitting on broke from the rest of the cliff, and Vraul, still sitting on the piece of rock, landed on an unfortunate orc trainee, killing him instantly. Feeling that Vraul had become nothing but a nuisance towards the well-being of the orcs within the Valley, Vraul had been assigned off to the Barrens, where he was sent to defend the walls of the Crossroads from invaders, specifically centaur and sometimes even humans. There he stayed until it was announced that goblins had joined the Horde, and that Thrall had stepped down from the position of Warchief and granted it to a feisty mag'har orc - one who just so happened to be the son of Hellscream. After eventually getting the chance for a small chat with the new leader, Garrosh, Vraul had returned to the Crossroads with news that he had been drafted off to aid a nearby warband in the northwestern area of the region. The Thunderfist Escorted by a particularly angry Blood Guard known as Rok'mash, Vraul was welcome with open arms by the leader of the warband, Garthak Thunderfist. It was there Vraul had once again met the familiar Aknug Stormrider character - the very same orc Vraul had rescued from Durnholde years prior, who at this point had become a higher-up and chief shaman within the warband. Before departing from the encampment, Rok'mash had warned Vraul and Aknug that an attack on the Crossroads was imminent and that the Thunderfist best send out the necessary troops to defend the area. Soon after departing the area, his message rang true, as an army of Theramore sharpshooters and scouts had invaded the Barrens and sent out an attack straight for the Crossroads in an attempt to stem the Horde's tradeways. Prior to their assault upon the Crossroads village, they had nearly destroyed a nearby orc tower, setting it aflame and decimating the nearby population there. By this time, Vraul had become a messenger for the warband and quickly informed Garthak and the rest of the warband of the treacherous attack. After the fighters had managed to enter the Crossroads and prepare for battle against the invaders, Vraul played a continual role as the primary advisor of Garthak as to the plans of their enemies. His experience within the battleifled greatly aided the Thunderfist in successfully retaliating against the Theramore soldiers. While many casualties occurred during the fight, including that of well-known Thunderfist lieutenant Dagg Battlevow, the warband had managed to strike down a tower that the Alliance troops had constructed and halted their movement against the Horde. Victory was had, at least for a short while. About about a week later, a strange sickness had spread throughout the shaman population within the encampment. Many of the visionaries had become very ill, and a few of the elders had perished. Given his high respect for the shamanic people, Vraul aided the shamans as best as he could, such as by carrying a weak Aknug to any place he needed to travel for a few days while the seer recovered. Unwilling to see yet another orc he cared for fall to demise while in his care, Vraul did his best to gather any services that Aknug needed in immediate fashion. Such a dedication to his care garnered Vraul the respect of Aknug, and the two quickly became acquiantances outside of the warband's political structure. When the wise Garthak Thunderfist had slowly faded off into obscurity and quietly stepped down from his position, the leadership was given to Aknug, who led the warband to a new age of prosperity. The weeks went by with the warband working together and gathering many new recruits, and Vraul was promoted to a decent rank within the warband due to his stout dedication towards the Thunderfist, where he was able to personally work with Aknug in the effort to bolster the offensive power of the warband. Unfortunately, this era of progress was soon stopped when Aknug made an abrupt proclamation to the clan that he was given a mission by the Elder Shaman council to travel far off into Nagrand and perform his sacred duties as a shaman by foregoing his position and entering the Oshu'gun mountains in order to communicate with its spirits. Realizing that releasing his leadership position would require someone capable, Aknug offered a mak'gora challenge for the position. Vraul, eager to lead the warband in efforts against the Theramore humans, quickly charged to challenge his old friend, but he was too late. A particularly powerful shaman, former gladiator, and protege of Aknug himself by the name of Mograh Ragefury had stepped ahead of Vraul, and made the challenge against Aknug. Successful in his approach, Mograh became the new Centurion of the Thunderfist, much to the sorrow of Vraul. Soon after Mograh's reign had started, Vraul quickly noticed the inactivity of the new leader, and spoke out amongst the populace of the warband about it. With intentions to hold a mak'gora of his own, Vraul spent much time refining his combat skills in preparation to take down the mighty Mograh. A New Assignment One day, after easily defeating a weakling troll by the name of Zwenku in combat, Vraul had been ordered to send out a message to the officials within the Crossroads. While still on the path to carrying out the message, Vraul had been noticed numerous grunts following a high-ranking orc by the name of General Pulpine, rushing in the direction of the Thunderfist encampment. These orcs were racing there in order to disband the warband and draft the troops out into Stonetalon to serve within the ranks of an orc overlord named Krom'gar. Vraul followed them and witnessed the conflict that arose. As Pulpine loudly spoke out the orders of Krom'gar, a conflict broke out between the two Horde forces due to their differentiating opinions. Mograh soon came out to address the abrupt arrival of the Pulpine's forces, and argued against Krom'gar's decisions until the tensions of the situation brought him to a near-emotional breakdown. Mograh eventually agreed with the order in an odd show of submission towards Pulpine and gave away his warriors for the cause of the greater Horde. The many orcs within the Thunderfist whom felt such a decision was infallible decided to trek out into the Barrens to protest against Garrosh's foolish proclamation. After the the discussion had ended, Pulpine had caught eye of the spying Vraul, and demanded to know of his identity. Vraul, along with numerous Thunderfist warriors and headhunters, was sent out to the Stonetalon Mountains in order to serve Overlord Krom'gar. The Mists Category:Orc Category:Warrior Category:The Thunderfist Warband Category:Back story Category:Frostwolf Clan Category:Horde